Simplifying Family Life
Are you a victim of the Fashion Stranglehold and the Must Have culture?
Many people are these days. If they can afford to buy the latest fashion and ‘must have’ gadgets they do - whether they want them or not. Everyone has them, after all. What will my friends think if I don’t?
Or if they can’t actually afford to buy them, they feel bad. Their self-esteem plummets and they’re embarrassed in company.
This mentality even affects our school kids. It would take an exceptionally strong-minded kid to go to school and be relaxed or ‘cool’ if he or she was not wearing the same designer gear as the rest. The taunts would be unbearable, except for the tiny minority who are able to laugh these things off.
Many schools here in the UK get round this problem by insisting on a school uniform.
Other schools have a strictly enforced dress code, and, thanks to pressure from the PTA, they insist that no designer gear is worn.
This takes an enormous pressure off the shoulders of both parents and kids. If your children are victims of the school’s ‘Fashion Police’, why not take the matter up with the PTA or School Board? Get other parents to join you and insist that the dress code is both revised and enforced!
Getting back to the simpler things in life is amazingly therapeutic.
If you haven’t done it already, try it and see. To help you, here’s an excellent free report called:
Thriving on Less : Simplifying in a Tough Economy
To give you some idea what it’s all about here’s the table of contents and part of the Introduction. They speak for themselves:
“The recent economic recession has a lot of people worried, about their jobs, their businesses, their homes and their bills. When your income is dropping or in jeopardy and you still have a mountain of bills to pay, things can get pretty scary.
However, tough economic times do not have to be a time of struggles! If you look for the opportunity in the middle of difficulty, as Mr. Einstein suggested, then tough economic times become an opportunity to transform your life.”
Table of Contents
Introduction
1. A Simple Lifestyle
2. Focus on the Essentials
3. Thriving on Less, Not Struggling
4. Focusing on Enough, Not More
5. Make Small Financial Changes First
6. Look at Large Expenses for the Long Term
7. Changing Your Spending Habits
8. A Guide to Getting Out of Debt
9. Tools for a Frugal Life
10. Resources
Click on the link (above or below) and the book will download - this may take a minute or so as your pdf reader opens.
Next, click on File in the top left of the page, then click on Save Page As… in the drop-down menu.
Remember to save it to your Desktop or a convenient folder of your choice.
Thriving on Less : Simplifying in a Tough Economy
Want even more free stuff? Sign up for Family Matters. (See top right.)
Judge Slates Broken Marriages
A leading British judge has slammed what he calls the ‘pass the partner’ culture in our modern society.
Mr Justice Coleridge has called for a change in attitude to put an end to the ‘epidemic’ of broken homes. He went on:
“I am drawing attention to the endless game of ‘musical relationships’ in which such a significant proportion of the population is engaged. . .
“The reaffirmation of marriage as a gold standard would be a start.”
Hmm. . . Although I agree that saving relationships would be great, Mr Justice seems to be looking at only one side of the problem.
Yes, some marriages and partnerships do break up because the couples involved fail to make family life their priority, so the children suffer.
But he seems to take no account of the many honest-to-goodness couples who encounter difficulties in their relationships and drift apart - with a huge amount of suffering, not only for their kids, but for themselves.
And the reason they drifted apart was because they had no knowledge of the dynamics of their relationship. They simply didn’t know how to handle their problems.
There’s no denying the result, however. Statistics from many countries show that kids from single-parent families are far more likely:
- to under-achieve at school
- to have poor health
- to be lured into lives of crime, drug abuse, drinking
- and unwanted pregnancy.
Sidenote: If you are a single parent raising your kids, then take heart. These problems are not inevitable and can be avoided. We intend to post advice for single parents soon, both here and on Frank’s parenting website, www.ParentAndTeenTalk.com.
Okay, so let’s avoid all this pain and do what we can to save relationships.
We’ve researched what we believe are the best online programs to help get couples back on a even keel - as you’ll see, one of them is even ideal for couples who have already split up.
This page is worth checking out.
Click Here: Save Marriage
Why wait until marriage/relationship difficulties arise and cause you pain?
You may even know of friends who are suffering and heading for a bust-up. - Putting them in touch with these programs could be the best thing you could do for them AND their family.
Click Here: Save Marriage
Is FamilySoftshop For Moms Only?
Is FamilySoftshop a site for Moms? Well, yes - and for Dads and Grandparents and anyone else who wants to visit.
Having said that, the majority of our readers are - and will no doubt continue to be - Moms.
So why isn’t it a ‘Moms’ site?
Sidenote: First let’s deal with the word! Although we’re based in the UK where kids have Mums, not Moms, Frank and I spend a lot of time in the USA. If FamilySoftshop follows the normal pattern of our internet marketing, the vast majority of our readers will be from the US.
Frank does most of the actual writing on our site, and he tends to slip easily between US spellings and the UK versions. So sometimes we’ll say ‘Moms’ and sometimes ‘Mums’.
Dads don’t present the same problem. Well, at least as far as spelling their title!
But traditionally Dads have not played a big part in running the home. ‘Women’s work’, many will say.
That’s not in the best interests of families, and there’s no doubt that today many Dads WANT to play a more active role in family life.
Couples can still divide responsibilities to suit whatever works for them, but we don’t want any Dad to feel excluded from FamilySoftshop.
So, even if many of our articles and comments appear to be aimed at Moms (or even Mums!), we consider anyone with an interest in family life and development our welcome reader.
While we’re on the subject of Dads, here’s an article that Frank wrote about two years ago, highlighting the changing role of fatherhood.
I hope you enjoy it.
Responsible Fatherhood: A Unique And Irreplaceable Role
Grace
Help Your Toddler Share
- brought to you by Grace
Raising a toddler can be tough and challenging at times.
If you have a toddler, I’m sure you’ve heard the claim’That’s mine’, quite often. Your toddler is not unusual, this is just a part of growing up! Even the most reasonable and well-behaved toddlers will not want to share certain things. Read More
Taming Toddler Tantrums
Seven tips that really work
- brought to you by Grace
Young parents get scared when they hear stories about the “terrible twos.” Take courage, though, you will survive the toddler stage.
It’s not easy to understand why your toddler has a tantrum but at such a young age, a child is consumed with thoughts of themselves. Everything is about them and how they feel. Until they are taught how to share, every toy or piece of food they see automatically belongs to them.
Toddler temper tantrums can have a variety of effects. Read More
Quick Tips
Childhood obesity . . .
. . . is reaching epidemic proportions in some countries, despite the fact that elsewhere many kids don’t know where their next meal is coming from.
We know that in Western society many adults are obese and that’s causing serious health issues. Read More
Family Time
Here’s an article we know you’ll love.
So many kids today are crying out for more affection and attention from their parents. Without it,
- their school work suffers
- their behavior suffers
- and their self-esteem hits the rocks.
Here’s how to make sure you meet your kids’ basic needs - and have great fun at the same time. . . Read More
Hello . . . And Welcome
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Hello, and welcome to the first posting on FamilySoftshop.
It’s our aim to provide families with great content and products to enhance the quality of their lives.
We want you to come back to our site again and again because you’ll know there’s a variety of interesting and helpful things for you to explore. Read More
